Amos Burn

Amos Burn (1848–1925) was an English chess player, one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer.

Burn was born on New Year's Eve, 1848, in Hull.[1] As a teenager, he moved to Liverpool, becoming apprenticed to a firm of shipowners and merchants.[1] He learned chess only at the relatively late age of 16.[1] He later took chess lessons from future World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz in London, and, like his teacher, became known for his superior defensive ability.[2]Aron Nimzowitsch, in his book The Praxis of My System, named Burn one of the world's six greatest defensive players.[2]

Although never a professional chess player, Burn had a long tournament and writing career.

In 1913, Leopold Hoffer, the editor for over 30 years of the chess column in The Field, the leading chess column in Great Britain, died. The proprietors of The Field took seven weeks to select a successor, finally settling on Burn. He moved to London and wrote the column until his death in 1925.[3]

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His first tournament, in 1867–68, was a handicap tournament at the Liverpool Chess Club. Placed in the second level, where he received pawn and move odds from the four top-seeded players, and gave up to knight odds to the other players, Burn won easily, scoring 24 out of 25 possible points.[4] Burn's first major tournament was the Third Challenge Cup of the British Chess Association (London 1870), where he surprised the pundits by tying for first with John Wisker, ahead of Joseph Henry Blackburne and others, but lost the playoff to Wisker.[5] His last was Breslau 1912, where he finished 12th of 18 players, scoring 7.5 out of 17 possible points.[6]

Burn is the eponym of the Burn Variation of the French Defence (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4). The line had been played before, including by Albert Clerc against Adolf Anderssen at Paris 1878.[7] Burn's first known game with the variation was against Charles Locock at Bradford 1888.[8] However, Burn "was the first to adopt it regularly and with good results", scoring nine wins, one draw, and five losses with it.[8]

In 2004, the Swiss IM Richard Forster published the 972-page Amos Burn: A Chess Biography. Viktor Korchnoi observed in its foreword that "this work accords [Burn] the recognition he deserves, painstakingly assembling and analysing all available games and biographical material about him."[9]

At right is a surprisingly little-known position from one of Burn's offhand games.[10][11] At first blush, Black's position looks resignable: it appears that his bishop, attacked twice and pinned to his king, will fall and he will soon be checkmated. Burn produced the staggering 33...Qg4!!, leaving his queenen prise to three different white pieces. However, if 34.Bxg4 or hxg4, Black wins with 34...Bxd2. If 34.Qxg5+, 34...Qxg5 35.Rxg5+ Kh6 and Black wins a piece and the game. MacDonald instead tried 34.Rxg4 Nf3+ 35.Kg2 Nxd2 36.Rxg5+ Kh6 37.h4 Nxb3 38.Rf5 Nxa5 and Burn won in 11 more moves.

Burns' biographer Richard Forster calls the move "without doubt the most extraordinary of his career."[10] Chess journalist Tim Krabbé considers 33...Qg4!! one of the ten most fantastic moves ever played,[12] noting that it is a rare example of the Novotny theme in practical play.